Photo: WBZ NewsRadio / Brooke McCarthy
GLOUCESTER (WBZNewsRadio) - When North Shore native April Dooley, a teacher at the Beverly School for the Deaf, saw the recent film "CODA", she said it was like someone watched her grow up and put it on the silver screen.
"CODA" follows a main character named Ruby, who grows up with two deaf parents, and a deaf older brother. She has full hearing ability, making her a child of deaf adults, or CODA. She finds a passion for singing and joins her school's choir. The movie follows her vocal coaching as well as the day to day living with her deaf family and assisting them with their fishing business, as an interpreter.
Dooley saw the movie on opening night and it resonated with her. Her first language is American Sign Language and over time she too, became an interpreter for her parents. She says she experienced first hand the struggles of growing up with a deaf family and the responsibility felt acting as an interpreter for them, something which is played out in the movie.
For Dooley, it wasn't just seeing her own language story played out on screen, but also the familiar sights of her hometown. Some of the scenes were shot at the Steel Derrick Quarry and Lane's Cove in Gloucester.
The movie filmed in Gloucester, has been racking up award after award this year and is now nominated for Best Picture at this year's Oscars, which take place March 27. The film has already taken home a Screen Actors Guild Award for best cast in a motion picture, and actor Troy Kotsur won best supporting actor award. Kotsur also won the same award at the BAFTA Awards on March 13, making him the first deaf actor to have won such an award.
WBZ's Brooke McCarthy (@BrookeWBZ) reports
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